Some of these hybrids are marketed under specific brand names, such as the Buckfast Bee or Midnite Bee.

The hives were found in orderly rows, three high, in a manner that could have accommodated around 100 hives, held more than 1 million bees and had a potential annual yield of 500 kilograms of honey and 70 kilograms of beeswax, according to Mazar, and are evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in ancient Israel 3,000 years ago.

Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America.

In Africa, honeyguide birds have evolved a mutualist relationship with humans, leading them to hives and participating in the feast.

In the tropics, other species of social bees are managed for honey production, including the Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana).

All of the Apis mellifera sub-species are capable of inter-breeding and hybridizing.